Adhesive bandages comprising a central pad area and adjacent adhesive areas are well-known in the art and popular as first aid wound dressings. Current bandages generally comprise an elongated strip of cloth or plastic backing material coated on one surface with a pressure sensitive adhesive. A gauze or sponge pad is secured to the adhesive surface in a central location to serve as the wound cover. The wound facing surface of the pad may be plastic-coated or otherwise treated to prevent the pad from adhering to the wound. Plastic-coated release strips are placed over the adhesive areas and the entire assembly is enclosed in a sealed package and sterilized to be ready for use.
The adhesive bandages of the prior art are characterized by their construction of two basic components--the adhesive coated backing material and the wound covering pad material. While such bandages are effective and desirable products, the assembly of the component materials during production results in increased manufacturing and inventory costs. In addition, the packaging of individual bandages requires additional handling and materials which further increases manufacturing costs.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an improved adhesive bandage. It is a further object of this invention to provide a low cost adhesive bandage through the use of inexpensive materials and low cost manufacturing techniques.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing an adhesive bandage and a wrapper or envelope therefor on a continuous basis from a continuous length of a composite bandage and wrapper material. These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent from the ensuing description and claims of the invention.